well. turkey moves to ditch the dollar in trade with key partners including russia and china as a feud with washington intensifies. the chemical giant monsanto is ordered to pay nearly three hundred million dollars to a former groundskeeper in the u.s. over claims and that its best selling weed killer causes cancer. and a senator in florida accuses russia hacking the state's voting system head of the mid-term elections but state authorities there say there's no evidence really to support that claim. the latest on these stories you can head to our to dot com coming up oh going underground investigates the wall of the west in the saudi bombing of yemen and if you're watching us in the u.k. it is next to. us.

i'm after it out here we're going underground as germany's angela merkel goes to spain to meet with new prime minister petro sanchez and with the continued imprisonment of democratically elected politicians in the european union coming up on the show as even president obama's u.n. ambassador appears to have qualms about her private support for the u.k. backed war in yemen what now for the world's worst humanitarian crisis we go to southern to speak to save the children the stories of a continues to sanction the training of more plain pilots balling the country and on the film's thirtieth anniversary we speak to the award winning director of heathers like a lehman about creating clique's from the cafeteria to congress plus merkel goes to madrid birds. in the spanish civil war to the catalonia referendum is one region of

the iberian peninsula emblematic of a fundamental lack of democracy in the european union all of the more coming up in today's going underground but first britain continues to train the warplane pilots bombing yemen as it faces what the u.n. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis u.k. minority government the dettori is a may defends the policy by saying britain is a great arms exporter we have one of the strongest regimes in terms of exports of alms anywhere of any country or anywhere else cares about even the way mainstream international media sees it arguably the british government is now coming under fire from critics who say billions of pounds in british made weapons sold to saudi arabia are being used to blow up yemeni hospitals and commit human rights abuses against thousands of civilians but tourism is not being the only defacto facilitator of saudi bombing if you haven't already. i want to welcome his majesty king abdullah to the white house.

is me and your duty. as i. was the night of rain over the. battle was a lot. but i want bananas one north. had a. power levy did after. representing president obama at the u.n. when that u.s. u.k. backed as strike took place was samantha power yet this week she tweeted that the so-called saudi u.a.e. coalition shouldn't be bombing hospitals today saudi u.a.e. coalition while the hospital yesterday unicef reported that they have repeatedly attacked facilities that provide drinking water horrifying in the extreme u.s. and all support full court press on. sept peace talks in the shadow of obama

administration officials making extraordinary you terms of alleged war crimes like that and a group claiming continued bombing of the poorest country in the middle east by r.a.f. trained warplane pilots we're going to hear from n.g.o.s save the children joining me now from for the by skype is our son bashar assad welcome to going underground the i.c.r.c. has been telling r.t. in the past few days the dozens of civilians being killed mostly children in u.k. are saudi strikes in die and in the saga something save the children can corroborate what the i.c.r.c. is saying actually it was very tragic what we receive these of the mission about an explosion an attack against the best kids and children for children and it happened twenty five kilometers northwest of side a city. the numbers and besant skilled and or injured this was a very very horrifying incident and of course you had a bad that incident one week ago that happened in an area in the hospital of farah

those incidents keep targeting civilians and the casualties are kids and civilians who have nothing to do with this war so there must be the complection these baddies these videos must be the conflict in and women from any active force and they must be investigation and those sorts of laws are supported these attacks must be held accountable i know save the children were directly affected by the one in a day there but just before we get on to that one the official saudi press agency of saudi arabia is being quoted as saying the school bus bombing was a legitimate military action and saudi arabia saying children are being used by the hoody community as human shields. roberta beer's about those cares is that they are heading to a some account that's an activity the ministry of education is doing in the summertime they bring kids to schools to do activities sports and such so that's that imported statement about the bus and who was inside it. kind of the

way it could be a legitimate military action there is knowledge of missy in attacking civilians who are not picking up aunts and one not fighting in front lines civilians children's war men they must not be targeted in areas where there are no classes or where they cannot be seen as hostile or participating in this in this in this war so no we cannot we cannot see how this is a legitimate british britain exports billions of pounds whether warplanes and bombs and terrorism is as we have the one of the highest standards of arms export systems in the world so i cannot see why a saudi is saying that children are being used as a human shield. action would be used against those children. actually what we are concerned essential then is the right of to learn to survive

to survive these can this is a more well more concentrated and focused on the humanitarian needs of celiac as and children most importantly even in these these these war and muni's conflicts so yeah tell me about the the very a treatment center near there there's a main hospital there. yes i was actually there and heard eight and i heard the explosion although i was very far away in the in the other part of the city they support it was very big it was to suppose and heard one of the another five b.n. thursday. so the explosion happened to one in front of the hospital the other one is in the backyard of the hospital and luckily the second explosion there was no people around but the first one hitting the front of the hospital it was civilians around there were model cyclists who were waiting for customers to be suited to ride with them they were actually pregnant woman who was going into the room the the hospital she was just couldn't get in of the bus on the street vendors those

were the casualties dozens of people fell between killed and injured. fifteen minutes after or so another explosion happened in the fishery market the center official market just across the street from the hospital west. so it was massive and it was bodies on the streets and that was that was actually part of this save the children's initial statement there were explosions didn't specify whether they were airstrikes which initially seemed to support the accounts of this was by the hooting community was it a war plane strike it was an explosion of a bomb well nor an expert on starts to deter mine what was the cause of the explosions what we are concerned about is the civilians will pay a casualty now was it an f. side was a propelled shell we cannot say we can actually we cannot have expected to say so and what we are more concerned about is signaling it's. president obama won

a robert f. kennedy humanitarian award in the past few days he of course began selling more weapons as the arabia there than at any time in the seventy three year saudi u.s. alliance just explained how long this has been going on in the country that the conflict has been now for almost four years is yes next march it will be four years to all of conflict now and i've been in had a definite it's one of the most vulnerable cities who have been very severely impacted by this conflict because of the city a small city where people lived a very simple life they're relying on daily paint jobs now and with the war and the conflict and yes i'm stating i'm too. afraid as an example of what's happening in different parts of the country now in today that we have small people who are small jobs they debate ops. we have public sector employees and staff and private sector

will be let go and public sector staff who haven't been paid for more than soon years now we have electricity who is not a dinner table for more than two years in the data we're talking about a city where the climate is ninety three fahrenheit degree average highest temperature in the date that's about five months in summer which is right now we're talking about people not having it addition in not having to city cholera outbreak now could they damage the burrs perfect perfect condition for cholera to spread an outbreak because they hi-z. in a sanitation and our base is filling the streets there are not up to city heat and people are not the people are manners they're not getting the portion of food they need each day because they have to cope with this with this conflict and they're not pavement they called with it by reducing force in the food they eat every day

the port of today does not functional hundred percent total for the. when it's function one hundred percent that's more than ten thousand people working there those people have the i'm talking about truck drivers custom players agents people who are under databases come to the seaport so they lost their jobs so you find people desperate for securing the little food they can in order to survive if the conflict now the conflict is in the south of the day that two kilometers in the south for data that come flicked is be unbearable to the city people will be trapped inside their houses they won't be able to go out and secure their daily food and they literally starve to death. the electricity is gone with the extra sheeting heat will normal probably they'll be not all our water sol it will be a disaster so what we caught for is a peaceful resolution for this conflict or the gothic bodies the un the international community must bring this conflict to an end beastly i know it's

a probably difficult for you to appreciate that they're on the front lines but britain even as of last year made ten times more in arms sales to saudi arabia than agave in aid to yemen can you appreciate while you go over the confliction the amount of money and how profitable it is to sell weapons that are being used the damage that awful infrastructure i want to share this incident in a drainage training is a city south of her data it's a small city in village where classes erupted on the thirteenth of july it wrapped it around the city for four days but then it reaches incite people guts right inside their house and we can't perceive the cries and calls for help from families and children who are injured actually people are not able to leave their houses and tell the morning and when they left they have to walk they had to walk fifteen miles and thought before they could find transportation. we responded to one of those families and admitted an endemic it appears all to get into hospital his body

was sprayed in charles. his brother who was a newly burnt he suffocated from the small that's us an example small example of a ladder much destructive scale if the conflict reaches a date a city that was just a small example where people saw. what is the suffering is like when under attack as a matter thank you. thank you after the break on its thirtieth anniversary the director of heathers on whether a targets of the characters played by we don't know a writer and christian slater is a little like donald trump and eighty two years to the month of the arrival of the international brigade stuff like defacto u.k. u.s. backed fascists in spain could catalonia now finally be reborn told a similar coming about to have going underground.

this is. a church secret indeed priests accused of sexually abusing children can get away with it literally like to call this the do graphic solution. what the bishop needs to do then he finds out that the priest is is a perpetrator is simply moves him to a different spot were the previous standards not. highest ranks of the catholic church conceal the accused priests from the police and justice system to that that's not that's the end.

of the story. this is my love hate relationship with the united kingdom. and the love it because it's shambolic and fraudulent. because thousands tens of thousands of people had their lives destroyed by r.b.s. . welcome back with the top u.k. teaching union saying this week that school funding is in crisis tourism is government has decided to bring up rosie views of taxpayer subsidized upperclass private schools like eton but across the pond rosie child recollections thanks to hollywood have long been promoted about the state sector one film though you believe ruined it all made thirty years ago this month heather's starring winona ryder and christian slater at a class and violence to the reagan era mixed markets for k. we released we were to the british film institute of love in south bank to talk to

its director independent spirit award winner michael lehman who would control. the . change in the council's. free. use it is. michael thanks for being on going underground thirty years since this film i'm going to was what you think of has is thirty years old i can't believe anybody still watching this movie thirty years on is very strange to look at it now and say oh my god those were teenagers thirty years ago. but i think that i think what we were talking about in the movie and what we were addressing in our own bizarre humorous way is still relevant to a modern audience and the movie i think holds up more than i would have ever expected and i want to get into some of the themes of the secular but in britain we had frank clucks he wrote a letter to brezhnev with some bleak films about what it was like in the eighty's

deregulation of financial dealings happening at the same time as this. you have the breakfast club but all those of the joint news films and so on but this film is considerably dog while being humorous yeah my friends and i all of us making heathers we we like john hughes movies we thought they were very funny and that they presented a kind of a light and happy view of teenage life and high school life they did deal with in many ways they dealt with more serious issues than earlier teen comedies might have but there was a sort of a rosy outlook to the john hughes movies and most of the teen films of the time and for for me and dan waters who wrote the script for heathers and the group that made it we thought ok fine those movies they are what they are they're plenty entertaining but we want to get down to what things are really about and express a humor that was much darker which really reflected our sensibilities so if if you can remember when

a writer finds itself in this school where there's this mini class this term which has other films also tackled i think that this idea that teenagers that the social structures of high school in the ways teenagers treat each other they preach sage and reflect what's going to happen in later life and they are a departure from what we think of as childhood where things are kind of kept kind of you know safe and things become not so safe in high school and americans is as i think we all probably know or have figured out we're obsessed with the high school years as somehow being emblematic of everything that happens in life and you hear these cliches you know well hollywood is just like high school american politics or just like high school the fact is that we form our ideas in the states i think probably everywhere but in high school where you're you're classified as part of a group and somehow you fall into certain social structures and people treat each other certain ways and these are the kind of things that we were addressing in the

movie. actual way to address the american politics of like the plot of heaven. that really is joke arguably would doctor the wave in political analysis inevitably people are going to say could it be a sad. now adult in washington d.c. it could be cool people again yes right right the bullying which is something that people talk about in merican politics these days yeah sure these are these are relevant issues i suppose although it's the winner right of that comes out drop at the end you think don't trump would say you know he's one of the jokes being hit by the by the winona ryder's of this well on family i don't know we'd have to ask mr trump and see which which of the heathers characters he identifies with most i mean there's corruption right through the school that would in a rage or in christmas later are in and it meets the television media event yet some point pretty dim of you you would take. away t.v.

treats high schools right this was something but part of the theme of the movie was that that the way adults and the way the outside world viewed what these kids were doing was so disconnected from what was actually going on and so it was an early form of look at how things get twisted in the media and you know that the the girl who was the meanest girl in school was celebrated for being great once she died and once people thought she committed suicide so they said oh there was some much more going on inside her head than we ever knew about and the obvious irony of it is no none of that was going on inside her head at all she was just mean and even the news even the school newspaper tried to jump on the bandwagon there was a africa or appeal across the eighty's were famous for live a yes or and have a good appeal and everything but the even the school magazine is saying let's go for the sensational headline yes that was and that was also a nod to something that happens as part of high school life you see the editor of

the school paper is really just the editor of the paper in order to get something that will help them get into a better. college so they're doing sensational journalism with an agenda that is their own personal agenda it's not anything that has to do with what the news is and the sense of entitlement to them and some of the richer students talking about ivy league schools and and money no object yes. you know the social structures of high school we try to represent them in a way that reflected the standard clichés unity of your geeks you have your jocks you have your pretty girls you have the rich kids you know we laid that out as it as it has always been laid out in high school movies but we took a little bit of a darker more satirical turn happy with the way mainstream media then just wanted to target the idea of school shootings and suicide literally that kind of violence hadn't happened in american schools at that point it wasn't even it wasn't even on

the table it was nothing we thought about and you think they missed the point the all these other issues you know i you know part of what we were saying was that the media is quick to label things a certain way and people are quick to jump on stuff and take an interpretation that may be removed from what's actually going on and that was part of the irony and satire of the movie that holds true today holds true in many other contexts as well because i think you're on the record as saying it's a film about suicide it's not no it's not about it was not about. what are you working on. i've been doing a lot of what i think to be really good quality television in the last seven or eight years because that's that's where i think the kind of movie making that i was most interested in before has now gravitated to t.v. so i just finished i finished a show called snow fall which is an f.x. show it's terrific it's trivial show actually set in one thousand nine hundred

eighty three in los angeles about the rise of the crack cocaine trade and it's a fascinating. show i don't know how much it gets out of the states but it's really good we certainly cover journalist gary webb's articles about the rise of about at that do when you're in the industry there do people nor do you you know we made a path for this kind of dog in popular culture rule films i do i get a bit of that which i'm very happy to do it's always funny to me if i step on set to do something in a and a young want to be filmmaker type somebody who's working on saturdays doing something else as you know i really like your movies and a lot to me that's great you always want to hear that but when it's you know that i really like the dark twisted humor of the movies i go great that's for that's what i like to hear michael and thank you thank you. the four k. restoration of heathers is out now in the u.k. and on demand around the world from the twentieth well for decades the spanish

civil war has been tackled in the visual arts from communist painter public our search jeremy corbyn supporter ken loach today the leader of ease largest economy going to merkel is in madrid their meetings lie arguably in the shadow not only of britain's shameful role in aiding general franco but today's imprisonment of catalonia as democratically elected politicians the entire history is chronicled in catalonia reborn how catalonia took on the corrupt spanish state and the legacy of franco by george caravan and chris bambery chris joins me now chris welcome to going underground how is it that catalonia is in a sense the story of europe as we know it today i think it's a story of what the european union is. last october you remember when they tried to hold a referendum which the pan the catamount popularized in catalonia on independence from spain the spanish government sent in paramilitary police to break up french attacked police stations to seize ballot boxes to attack voters and there was this

complete silence from the european union about what was happening and i think since then it's going to gradually. that really for the small nations of the regions of the europe the european union doesn't really work and it doesn't really work it's run by the big states and then run essentially by germany and germany and france to the extent of worried about what would happen if catalonia broke free again self-determination the brown vacations that would have elsewhere and essentially sided with spain in repressing that democratic referendum and when i talk about it being a europe story if we go through the chapters and the spanish civil war. missing from british school textbooks is when britain was supporting the fascists there that's how we came to the second world war and we know live in the shadow of what i think is a very important story that if the western democracies had supported the spanish republicans frankl then it would have been a major blow block to the second world war the fact they didn't encourage him to

believe that he get away with seizing more and more territory we have a few statues around the country of celebrating the international brigades perhaps not taught as much as they could be in schools around europe but as far as what understands of the mainstream media there was this seamless drift from dictatorship to democracy frank was overthrown in your talking in this book about the corrupt state you alleged torture i mean this is one of the key stories what happened after frankel eventually did die in one nine hundred seventy five words for nine months they tried holding on and eventually realized they couldn't grassroots movement for democracy was too great but what he did was he brokered a deal with the main opposition parties that tend socialist and communist parties and essentially they agreed to maintain the institutions of the state as they work with no attempt to purge them whatsoever in return for being they themselves be legalized in standing in parliament show excellence and that they came into existence in the mochas it was very very limited it was an agreement for instance

a pact of silence about the spanish civil war that no one really talks about it there was despite the. explained has a greeters number of unknown civilian greaves in the world outside cambodia there was a complete package for anyone who carried out acts of political violence during the franco franco years and there was nothing done to solve corruption in particular which was really central to the franco dictatorship here in utah it didn't seem to harvard's terms of being a member of european union you say that and to remember that people go to holiday to this place you're seeing the world organization against torture based in geneva looking at allegations of torture this is not during franco's bordering with this is in recent years this isn't recent years and what that is a consequence of a dirty war which is force in the basque country then this is not to justify the can military campaign of air to the basket terrorist organization but the response of the spanish state which we call it death squads and legal death squads been sent into neighboring france to kill people but as the past record in legislation and

permit torture of prisoners which goes on so there's a lot of concerns about what ho democratic spin is and then bring us slightly more up to date we have this cataclysmic financial crash how did it affect people in catalonia a lot of catalans said well we warned about this no we're expected to pay for us there it emerges as elsewhere we're looking we pay our taxes to madrid they're not coming back to us but they're also not going to the poorest areas of spain in the south they're staying in madrid will be invested in infrastructure we want to get away from this we want to be better in our own and we could do better economically significant was october first twenty seventeen referendum after repeated attempts to do call a go here by madrid and perhaps the european union to stop democracy i think it was very important because what you had the situation room since two thousand and ten when the spanish constitutional court in a case brought by the center a popular body had struck down a statue autonomy given to catalonia agreed and voted on by the spanish and catalan

parliament and then by referendum in catalonia this is strong. don't by you know unelected judges you had that shift towards probably a majority support for independence leading to that situation when he decided to go for this referendum have been blocked by spain who refuses them the right self-determination and then you have this very very heavy handed response the likes of which i have not seen in western europe really in decades you know sending in the police to break i think at that stage the repression and the repression subsequent of that with people being held in jail as political prisoners by the spanish state has increased the number of catalans who may not necessarily support independence but do say we have a right we have a right to say to ourselves without any of this do you think anyone reading this book by the end of it is going to come to the conclusion britain has to get out of the european union because it seems such a rotten place i don't know if it comes to that conclusion i think of myself and

george the other author i think we have divided opinions and i see the european union as being undemocratic and run in the very near liberal agenda which is one of the reasons i think it is undemocratic was i think neo liberalism tends towards authoritarianism i also think it's interesting coming back to what's happening katter when you contrast that with the same silence towards right wing parties reemerging across europe and implementing measures against migrants against muslims and so on you know the european union is not a bastion of democracy chris bambery thank you and that's it for the show will be back on monday if you're best to get back coups corruption and colonialism in congo one of the most it will tell you is the resource rich and poor it's countries in the world until they can judge of us by social media will be back on monday like you do years since the birth of the revolutionary and the diversion list repeatedly targeted for assassination by the united states we don't castro.